A Conversation with Barbara Becks, the Founding Father of NBC News and the Legacy of 50 Years of Entertainment and News Journalism: A Memorino
ABC News said that Barbara Becks, one of the most famous American broadcast journalists, passed away at the age of 93. A cause of death was not provided immediately.
Walters began her national broadcast career in 1961 as a reporter, writer and panel member for NBC’s “Today” show before being promoted to co-hdst in 1974. In 1976, Walters joined ABC News as the first female anchor on an evening news program.
The pairing with Reasoner was quickly canceled, but Walters fought her way back, moderating two presidential debates. She also showed her talent for show business, interviewing celebrities and world leaders, as well as the creation of an annual Oscar interview program, as well as “The View.”
“I knew it was time,” Walters told CNN’s Chris Cuomo at the time. “I like all the celebration, that’s great, but in my heart, I thought, ‘I want to walk away while I’m still doing good work.’ So I will do that.
“How do you say goodbye to something like 50 years in television?” She said that in her conclusion. “How proud when I see all the young women who are making and reporting the news. If I helped make that happen, it’s my legacy. I can just say thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who I have worked with and watched. It’s called.
Four times, Walters was married to someone else, including to a business executive and an entertainment mogul. The second marriage ended in 1992. She has a daughter, Jackie, who she and Guber adopted 48 years ago.
After the Wall Street crash, Barbara was born just one month before the Great Depression. She later said that throughout her life she was driven by fear of financial collapse.
Over the decades, Walters posed a lot of tougher questions. She had the only joint interview of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin amid their peace talks in 1977. In 1999, she had an interview with Monica Lewinsky.
Though her term in that position was short-lived – co-anchor Harry Reasoner never warmed to her – she had the last laugh, staying at the network for almost four decades and co-hosting the magazine show “20/20” (with her old “Today” colleague, Hugh Downs), “The View” and countless specials.
She was honored with multiple medals, including an Oscar and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, after being parodied as the sometimes mush-mouthed “BabaWawa” on SNL.
If it’s a woman it’s caustic, if it’s a man it’s authoritative. If it’s a woman it’s too pushy, if it’s a man it’s aggressive in the best sense of the word,” she once observed.
A Memorino: ABC News Anchor Emerita and the First Lady Michelle Obama’s “It” Couple, Ms. Walters, aka The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006
Though a celebrity as much as anyone she covered, Walters pursued serious subjects as well. She was a pathbreaker. If you remember, Walters blurred the lines of news and entertainment as a journalist.
She easily delivered lines like these to introduce Hollywood’s “it” couple for her special, “The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006” saying, “Those lips, those eyes, that body. The setting of the film “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” led to Brad Pitt and Jolie’s romance.
In a Thanksgiving special with President Barack Obama and the first lady Michelle Obama, Walters asked the first lady, “You love him very much, don’t you?”
“You have seen pictures of Hosni Mubarak in jail in Egypt, and also Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, and I’m certain that you have seen them,” he said during the interview. “Do you worry that you might be next?”
Walters’ parents held her out of many social settings to stay with her older sister Jackie, who had a mental disability. She said that she learned patience and a certain amount of empathy from Jackie.
“On the one hand you had this glamorous life of nightclubs and gorgeous showgirls and big stars, but on the other hand, there was a lot of hardship, with lots of people going without food and water.” I’m sure people would look at a life like that and think, “Oh, isn’t that terrific?” I didn’t want that,” Walters said. “I was looking for a normal life.” I wanted my daddy to be here.
“She loved not only making serious news but she loved the lighter side … She knew that people were interested in these things and she didn’t want to look down on them.
She had to wait until the men in charge allowed her to ask the fourth question. She pushed ahead. and she always asked the smartest questions,” Mitchell said.
That was the price of success. She was the first million dollars a year anchor on the network. Harry Reasoner could not have been nicer.
“First of all, I don’t think he wanted anyone to be an anchor with him. He wanted it all to himself,” David Westin said, who later became Walter’s boss as ABC News’ president. “I think the idea of a woman, and particularly a woman who had already done not only done news, but fashion, and also, so called back then, women’s issues, I think he found deeply offensive to him.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/30/172253629/barbara-walters-dead
The Tree is Not the Tree – A Tale of Two Trees: Andrea Mitchell’s Story of Fidel Castro in Los Alamos
It was Hepburn who said that the kind of tree she wanted to be was a little different than the one she asked, that’s why she defended herself. Walters simply asked, “What kind of tree?”
NBC’s Andrea Mitchell was in Havana for a planned interview with Fidel Castro — a network jet was on the way with a full crew — when the Cubans cancelled it because Walters had decided she would have one and insisted hers be exclusive. Walters’ fame was that powerful.
The driven celebrity Journalist built one of the most remarkable careers in TV news after saving the financial industry for more than 50 years.